‘The Castle’ comes down for duplexes

Thursday

A historic large home, known to many in Boone as ‘The Castle,’ on west Fourth Street was recently demolished. The property won’t stay empty for long, however.

Eastern Star Masonic Home Administrator Rick Colby said the retirement community acquired the property, which had been for sale for some time, to become a part of its campus and build two new duplexes for senior living. The duplexes will be pre-sold, before Eastern Star schedules the construction to occur.

“We have a list of people on our waiting list for them (duplexes) and hopefully by spring we can start the process,” Colby said, estimating the units will be about 1,200 square-foot. Eastern Star currently offers units to residents that range anywhere from 950 to 1,360 square-foot.

It has not been decided whether or not basements will be included when building the duplexes. Colby predicts they will include two-car garages.

“We will be having a meeting with the people that are on our reserve list to discuss what features are important to them,” Colby said.

All of the duplexes owned by the retirement community are intended for independent living. Colby stated all of the community’s current independent living units are full.

A number of problems were wrong with the home making it difficult to keep the structure.

“I know that it has history throughout the years,” Colby said. “There should have been some improvements to the existing structure, our contracting company salvaged what they could and then they tore it down.”

Another goal of Eastern Star is to leave the existing trees on the property where they are. The retirement community will continue to provide the service work around duplexes once built.

Colby believes the new duplexes will be a help to the community.

“It’s (the duplexes) for our seniors in the community,” Colby said. “It also frees up housing for the community and it also adds some things that will be beneficial for everybody.